Why are 40 cal handgun bullets always flat? I've never seen a round nose bullet like a 9mm or 45

The cartridge is used in guns designed for the shorter 9mm cartridge.In addition the flat point gives at least some performance improvement over a round nose.

wish i could find an inexpensive round nosed mold for a 40 to use in my 646 and 610

There are at least 2 manuafacturers making round nosed bullets. Unfortunately noth of them are either cast lead or moly coated cast lead. I know there are other companies out there making them, but I have not seen the other company selling bullets in a few years. The

Three I know are:

Bear Creek : 140 gr Moly Coasted Lead Round Nose
Red Line : Hard cast Lead 155 gr
LaserCast : 185 Gr 1911 Round Nose

Other than that, they are usually either RNFP's or Truncated Cone, Flat points. You can also find Hollow pointed bullets like the Montana Golds, but those also have the profile of round nose, flat hollow Point. I don't know why no one makes a true RN FMJ.

Vince

I've shot both the 155 g and the 180 g. Laser cast in my Sig 226 40 cal and notice that in both cases I have a higher velocity, by around 30 fps, with the Laser Cast than with the jacketed rounds using the same powder and charge. From my limited experience with this round, 1 deer, and test mediums, the Laser Cast penetrates a lot more than the jacketed slugs and seems to be the same size groups. The Laser Cast will run around $26-$28 per 500 which is a lot cheaper than the jacketed bullets on sale. JMHO

TEA, a lead bullet will always give higher vel. than a jacketed. The bullet seals the bore more completely & gives you higher vel.
Joe45, Magma Eng. makes several RN molds & they can be had w/ RCBS handles.
http://www.magmaengr.com/bulletmolds.php?bm=40CAL10MM
Here's a guy selling at least one:
https://www.proshootpro.com/order.htm

When the .40 S&W came out, the only factory JHP loads were 180 grains. They don't get any rounder than the 180 gr. Winchester. This is the first time I've heard that a truncated cone shape offers any performance advantage over a bullet with a rounder ogive. Bullets with rounded ogives have always been more feed reliable, especially in past days in 1911s, many of which would not digest TC bullets very well until more manufacturers began throating their barrels as a standard feature. The length issue is the most relevant.

While it would still be classified a TC, the Remington 155 gr. JHP has a somewhat more rounded ogive and it can be bought in bulk. It's a great bullet. The reason that a cast lead bullet achieves a higher velocity at a similar charge weight is because of the lower coefficient of friction with hard cast lead vs. a copper jacketed bullet. Most often a lower powder charge will allow the same velocity to be achieved using a hard cast bullet than can be achieved with a jacketed bullet of the same weight with a slightly higher powder charge. Cast bullets, especially the harder cast ones like the Oregon Trail provide a lot of performance for the money. Brinnel hardness of the OT alloy is 26. I shoot both cast and jacketed in most calibers except 9mm. Then I mainly use one bullet for everything, a 124 gr. Remington JHP with a rounded ogive. A great all around bullet for any chore with a .40 S&W is the 165 gr. Golden Saber. It can be bought in bulk also and in it's factory loaded version, it is the highest rated defense bullet in .40 S&W loaded at around 1150 FPS and not to be confused with "medium velocity" loads like those used by the FBI that travel under 1000 FPS or subsonic.

KLN, not sure I totally agree on the lower friction point. Think about it, if an undersized bullet, pretty low CF, were fired, pressure would be less, vel. would be less. Higher pressure almost always means higher vel. almost. I still vote for more complete pressure seal in the bore, higher usable pressure, higher vel.

Fred: I'd agree with you if you were talking about the same powder and charge and a cast bullet of varying diameters. Remeber that with a hard cast bullet like the OT you are already .001" in diameter above nominal caliber. Higher usable pressure and higher velocity do not necessarily coincide or we wouldn't need powders of different burn rates. It's about the energy potential of a given powder. Softer cast bullets will provide a better gas seal, but that is not to say that jacketed bullets don't achieve adequate gas seal. Gas seal issues mostly stem from softer alloy target loads that are lower in pressure and often times .002" above nominal caliber bullets are used to achieve it for accuracy loads and not high velocity loads. At 26 Brinnell the OT hard cast bullet is much more like a jacketed bullet in terms of CF than a swaged lead bullet.

quote:

A great all around bullet for any chore with a .40 S&W is the 165 gr. Golden Saber.

I use them in several of my hand guns very accurate and top performance.

Lloyd

I shot a S&W 610 in the last IPSC world champs. Used a SAECO 047 mold 200grn truncated cone bullet. My reloads were not as fast as with a .45 revolver- simply because in the .45 there is very little cylinder - it is just about all chamber! That said, the shape of the bullets proved no hiderence. I also had some south african round nosed ball (NGA) which I tried for the odd speed reload. Made no difference (but it did factor 240 so I kept most of it for bush use!)